


Distraction

by purajobot935



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Dealing With Trauma, Enemies to Friends, Fixing a Relationship, M/M, MTMTE, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Talking Under Stars, The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye (IDW), Understanding, ambiguous canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-27 10:58:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2690348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purajobot935/pseuds/purajobot935
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rewind struggles with flashbacks after the whole DJD incident, and the first offer of help comes from a very unlikely source. And then there's Chromedome who just wants him to get better. Set somewhere after MTMTE 33, but before 35.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Distraction

**Distractions**

He can still see the images. If he dims his optics a little bit, it’s almost like his visor reflects the pictures back to his optics. His small frame gives a shudder and he wraps his arms around his torso. He doesn’t want to think of it. Not here. Not where he’s safe and everyone’s alive and well.

But they’re still there, the memories. He can still see them fresh as if it happened only a little while ago – Perceptor screaming at him for help as he’s lowered into the grinder, Tailgate’s dying cries as he bleeds out on the beam he’s impaled on, and Domey – sweet, precious Domey – refusing to comply to their demands just before they drive the needles through his head…

He stifles a sob with one hand, his other hand steadying himself against the wall. They’re alive, he tells himself over and over again. They’re alive. 

Chromedome’s alive.

It’s funny in a way, all those recorded deaths he’s watched by the thousand, all the Decepticons he’s seen killed during the war, the few he’s killed himself, the bodies he’s looked at in his search, the footage he himself has recorded of all the epic battles. He should be used to death by now. 

He’ll never get used to seeing Tailgate hanging lifeless, or hearing Chromedome scream for him to run even as his optics are pierced.

But they’re alive. Here, they’re alive.

There’s no reason he should be jolted out of recharge kicking and screaming from some night terror and clinging to Chromedome’s arms like a lifeline. No reason he should feel the need to purge his tanks when he looks at Cyclonus who has his head firmly intact on his shoulders. 

They’re alive, he tells himself through another stifled sob as his memory supplies him Ratchet next, his mouth forced open while they rip out his brain. Ratchet who he only saw moments ago for a quick medical check-up, mostly to satisfy the old medic that he was there and in one piece.

There’s no reason why the memories should still haunt him, because they’re ALL ALIVE for frag’s sake!

“Rewind?”

He looks up… and up, and up, till his optics meet a red Autobot symbol on a silver chest.

“Megatron…”

“Are you alright?” The (ex?)Deception warlord crouches beside him, and Rewind flinches only a little bit, though he can see the concern in the bright red optics.

“I’m…”

“Do not lie to me. I’ve spent millennia with Starscream. I know when someone’s lying to me.”

“Of course you would.” Rewind relaxes his hand and tries to straighten up again. This is the Captain in front of him after all. “I’m… not.” It’s a vague answer: I’m not lying? I’m not alright? He leaves it up to Megatron to figure it out for himself.

“Seeing too many things?”

Rewind nods. “How’d you guess?”

“I’ve seen my share of horrors.”

“Of course you have…. Do they ever go away?”

Megatron tilts his head. “I’m amazed you’re asking me that. You’re probably as old as I am; you were there when they still treated your class as non-sentient beings. You probably know the answer.”

“I was hoping you’d lie to me like you did before.”

“Chromedome told you then.”

“A little bit, yes.” Rewind’s blue visor focuses on the red optics. “Why did you lie to me?”

“I wanted you to leave with at least one good thought, and from what I gathered from the rest of the crew, and how he mourned you, you two _were_ inseparable.”

The smaller mech shakes his head a little bit. “It’s strange to have you be so kind. You’re not the Megatron I remember documenting for Optimus Prime at the height of the war. What changed you enough that you’d want to wear that?” He points to the badge on Megatron’s chest. “Or maybe I should ask: who changed you?”

A bit of a smile crosses Megatron’s face. “I see why Orion chose to employ Minibots. You’re all quite direct.” He stands to his full height. “Perhaps this story is better told where it’s a bit quieter.” 

Rewind leads the way to the roof.

=====

“That’s quite the story.” Rewind doesn’t need to look up quite so high this time. Megatron is closer to his height now, though still taller. It still feels a little strange to be sitting this close to the ex-warlord without the fear of having his head blown off.

“I guess you had to be there.” Even stranger is the wry smile on Megatron’s face, free of malice or misplaced pride. Rewind’s camera zooms in a little closer. Megatron notices this and turns to face him a little more. “You must have countless hours of footage of my crimes, my worst crimes. Your database alone could convict me more than any eyewitness statements could. They’re lucky to have you; you’re invaluable to them.”

Rewind only shrugs. “My database is. It’s why I was one of the few exempted from fighting. It was odd at first – being valued for my alt mode.”

Megatron nods. “Your kind were some of the first to be targeted by the Functionists, weren’t they? I remember many perished only a century or so after coming online.”

“Blame the low-grade fuel they gave us. Might as well call it crude energon, because it was. They figured we were non-sentient so we didn’t need the regular stuff to function. A lot of the Disposables died of fuel starvation.”

“Clearly you didn’t.”

“I came to work for someone who decided that just because I was a Disposable didn’t mean I was not sentient. He made sure I didn’t go hungry and in return I helped him convince others that Disposables were just as sentient as the rest of the Cybertronian population.”

“Your master was Dominus Ambus.” It’s not a question.

Rewind sits up a little straighter at the name. “He was more than my master. He was my…” He stops and shakes his head. “I don’t know if I should say ‘was’. Did you know him?”

Megatron smiles a little knowingly, but doesn’t press. “I’d heard of him, but I never knew him. He had long left the planet by the time I was in any shape to… meet with those in his position.”

“And when we came back, the war was already underway.”

“Where did you go?”

“Places. Looking for Luna 1. He wanted to find the cure for cybercrosis.” Rewind draws his legs up and hugs his knees. “I hear Rodimus found it.”

The co-captain snorts in disdain. “Rodimus is an idiot. He’s a child playing at being a leader. I mean, who in the name of Primus builds a spacecraft shaped like one’s head?! Aside from him.”

Rewind’s visor glints mischievously. “Maybe someone who builds warships that look like giant Decepticon symbols.”

Megatron stops mid-rant and stares at him, and for a split-second Rewind wonders if he’s going to get his head blown off after all, even though there’s no sign of a fusion cannon. Then the ex-Decepticon leader throws back his head and laughs. Rewind lets out a silent sigh of relief, his camera zooming in again.

“You make a very good point, Rewind, how very observant.” He tilts his head to the camera. “What is it?”

“This is the first time in four million years I’ve heard you laugh. Really laugh.”

“I’ve not had much to laugh about before this.”

“Most of us haven’t.” Rewind holds up a hand as Megatron starts to speak. “No, no I’m not going to throw blame at you. I have read your book y’know. Dom said you had potential to be someone who made a difference, if you could break out of the class system.”

“I squandered that potential.” He looks at the Minibot. “I was on your side. The Disposable Class, the Manual Class, the Outliers; everyone the Functionists and the Senate stepped on to keep their power. I was supposed to fight for all of you.” The usually proud silver shoulders droop a little bit.

It’s another first for Rewind, and he adds to that by placing a hand on one of those shoulders to offer some comfort. He’s glad he’s recording this moment, because it’s so surreal to see Megatron this way. “You could make a difference now.” There’s a pained inflection in Rewind’s voice. “The… DJD.” He can’t stop the shudder that rattles his frame again.

Megatron’s optics dim. “One of my two most feared creations. I made them what they are.” He runs a hand over his face. “And I don’t know if I can stop them now.”

Rewind lightly pokes the Autobot badge on his chest, and he marvels a bit at his own boldness. “You’ve changed symbols changed weapons. Maybe changed some of your methods, but your power’s still there. You haven’t lost that. You can stop them.” He pauses. “I never thought I’d hear myself give a peptalk to you of all bots.”

“I’m glad of it…. Though if this gets out to anyone, Rodimus especially…”

He chuckles. “Your secret is safe with me.”

Megatron smiles a bit again, then grows serious. “As for the DJD. There’s nothing I can say that will ever erase what you witnessed, and I don’t know if there’s anything I can say that will help you overcome it.”

Rewind understands what Megatron is not saying. “It’s something I have to get past by myself. Just say that you won’t let them do this to anyone else.”

“You know I cannot promise that.”

“Then lie to me one more time.”

“I promise.”

=====

The hatch opens and a familiar yellow visor glows from under the shadow of it. “Rewind?” The light brightens when he sees the other figure. “Captain…”

Rewind pretends not to see the flinch Megatron – now back to normal size – gives as Chromedome slowly and cautiously makes his way over. That’s a conversation for another time, he supposes. The next time they come to the roof to help him forget – temporarily – another flashback.

“Hey, Domey.”

“Hey. I was looking for you. What’re you doing out here?”

Megatron stands, backing away from Chromedome, and trying not to be too hasty about it, Rewind notices. Curious. Something to get to the bottom of. “We were talking. I was filling him in on what transpired before he came on board.”

“Oh. Well… that’s nice.”

Rewind can feel the tension in the air. “Yes it was,” he says. “It was very kind. Thank you, Megatron.”

There’s a (grateful) nod. “You’re welcome, Rewind. Take care of yourself.” He disappears down into the ship and the hatch closes.

Chromedome takes a seat beside him and Rewind instinctively leans against him a little bit. Chromedome places a hand on his shoulder like he did some time before. “What was all that about?”

“We were just talking, Domey. Don’t be unkind.”

“I wasn’t going to be. I guess it’s… just… the adjusting to… changes.”

“Because he’s not the Megatron you knew.” They both know Rewind is not just talking about the ex-Decepticon leader.

“Something like that.” They leave it at that.

For a while they sit in comfortable silence, and Rewind takes the quiet to relish having Chromedome there to lean against – even if he’s not _his_ Chromedome, he’s still Chromedome, and he’s blissfully, thankfully alive. He knows it’ll take some time, and if he knows Domey at all, he knows he will have to be patient with him, ease him into the fact that he’s not quite the same Rewind that he lost. But he’s nothing if not patient.

“Hey, Rewind?”

“Mm?”

“If you look really closely at that cluster over there, you can see the Manganese Mountains.” Chromedome’s hand momentarily lifts from his shoulder to point.

Rewind smiles a bit, his visor brightening as he points to a group of stars close to those that Chromedome singled out. “And there’s Prowl being thrown off a cliff.” His partner looks a little sheepish.

“He had it coming. How did you find out?”

“I have my ways.”

The arm tightens around his shoulders. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

“I’m glad you’re alive.”

“So am I, for you, Domey. So am I.”

He knows there will be more nightmares, and more flashbacks. He knows he still might have to face the DJD again in the future. He knows he and Chromedome have to somehow try and build up their relationship again and he knows that will present its own challenges.

But for now Rewind’s just happy to know Chromedome is alive.

That, and the fact that he might just have a new friend in Megatron. Well, stranger things have happened before.

“That’s the shuttle we took to get off Kimia. Do you remember, Rewind?”

He smiles. “Yeah, Domey. I remember.”

 

~END.

**Author's Note:**

> Just another little random thing I threw up in the early morning hours because I loved the little dynamic going between Rewind and Megatron and wanted to see more of it.


End file.
